Take V

Well I figured if I wrote a speech using song lyrics and another using movies lines then I may as well write one using poetry. I have after all seen a couple of examples of bridal speeches where poems are recited in lieu of, well, a speech really. Normally I am not such a fan of poetry but I did come across something written by Roy Croft though that just seemed to fit.

“Firstly, I would like to start my speech by saying a few small thankyous. A lot of the main ones have already been covered or are ones that The Boy and I would still like to make personally but there are a couple of other heroes who should not remain unsung. It would be remiss of me not to offer our thanks for example to The Boy’s workplace and to mine for the internet access so crucial in planning our day. Many a lunch time was spent pouring over pictures and sourcing vendors so that we could bring everything together today. I should also thank our neighbours for the same reason but I don’t really want to introduce myself and explain that they never secured their home network. Another thank you I have is for all of our friends who so conveniently got married before we did. Their weddings provided a great chance to see firsthand how different ideas worked and allowed us to pinch only the ones we liked. And I think they worked out pretty well on the whole.

Apart from my thankyous though, there were a couple of other things I wanted to say in my speech. When I was researching to find out what was traditional or required for a brides speech the overwhelming consensus appeared to be that there were no rules whatsoever. General opinion seemed to dictate that I firstly offer our appreciation for persons not yet mentioned and then talk about the groom or share a funny story about our courtship. I realised that I don’t have any of those that I can repeat however so I decided to go with talking about The Boy instead. Stubborn, irrational, pedantic, argumentative and just plain bitchy are all words that have been used to describe me at some point in time and this man I have married gets to see every one of those traits on a somewhat regular basis. The fact that he has happily committed his life to me today just goes to show how patient, tolerant and understanding he really is. The fact that he can see through or put up with all of the bad stuff to get to the good demonstrates that he is definitely a diamond in the rough and this is part of the reason that I am happy to call myself his wife.

My aunt asked me a question a couple of years ago in the first weeks that The Boy and I were dating. She asked if I could see us having a future together and settling down to get married. The idea unnerved me a little bit at the time (as it might after only a couple of weeks) and I think I said that I couldn’t not see a future for us. I wasn’t sure at the time what the future would hold but I didn’t think there was no possibility that we might end up here today. Now as I stand here, I can still see those two futures that I saw then, one with The Boy and one not, the difference being that now I don’t want to see my future without The Boy. He is a major part of my life and I know that I am a better person for knowing him. I hope that I can be that same partner in life to him that he is for me and I am looking forward to us spending our future together.

The Boy knows that I do not always openly express my feelings and that sometimes I don’t take enough time to say the important things in life but I recently found a poem that I thought pretty much summed up a lot of things that I could say right now so therefore;

‘I love you,
Not only for what you are,
But for what I am
When I am with you.

I love you,
Not only for what
You have made of yourself,
But for what
You are making of me.
I love you
For the part of me
That you bring out;
I love you
For putting your hand
Into my heaped-up heart
And passing over
All the foolish, weak things
That you can’t help
Dimly seeing there,
And for drawing outInto the light
All the beautiful belongings
That no one else had looked
Quite far enough to find.

I love you because you
Are helping me to make
Of the lumber of my life
Not a tavernBut a temple;
Out of the works
Of my every day
Not a reproach
But a song.
I love you
Because you have done
More than any creed
Could have done
To make me good
And more than any fate
Could have done
To make me happy.
You have done it
Without a touch,
Without a word,
Without a sign.
You have done it
By being yourself.
Perhaps that is what
Being a friend means,
After all.’

So please everyone, join with me and raise your glasses in a toast to the best friend that is my husband and to the future.”